Poem “New Orleans, 1885” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of reflection

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of reflection
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New Orleans, 1885

A queen of indolence and idle grace,
  Robed in the remnants of a costly gown,
She turns the languor of her lovely face
  Upon Progression, with a lazy frown.
Her throne is built upon a marshy down;
  Malarial mosses wreathe her, like old lace.
With thin, crossed feet, unshod, and bare and brown,
  She sits indifferent to the world’s swift race.

Across the seas there stalks an ogre grim.
  Too listless, she, for even Fear’s alarms,
   While frightened nations rally in defense,
She lifts her smiling creole eyes to him,
  And, reaching out her shapely, unwashed arms,
   She clasps her rightful lover-Pestilence.

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of reflection

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Poems of reflection

New Orleans, 1885

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